Clinton: Aliens wouldn’t surprise me

Former President Bill Clinton said he wouldn’t be surprised if aliens existed—and that while president, he spent some time looking.

“If we were visited someday I wouldn’t be surprised,” Clinton said on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “I just hope it’s not like Independence Day.”

Clinton said he tasked aides with researching Area 51, the Nevada military facility, and Roswell, N.M., where alien activity has long been rumored to have occurred.

“I had all the Roswell papers reviewed – everything,” the former president said.

“If you saw that there were aliens there, would you tell us?” Kimmel asked.

“Yeah,” Clinton said, with a nod.

But Clinton—like the writers of the 1996 sci-fi flick he cites—sees a silver lining.

“It may be the only way to unite this increasingly divided world of ours…think about all the differences among people of Earth would seem small if we feel threatened by a space invader,” Clinton said. “That’s the whole theory of Independence Day. Everybody gets together and makes nice.”